State lawmakers convened the 2013-2014 legislative session on Monday, December 3, 2012.

Democrats hold a two-thirds supermajority in both houses, allowing passage of bills without Republican votes.

Photo of the California State Capitol Building by Sascha Brück on Wikipedia.

The Ethics Commission is considering ways in which an individual’s role in fundraising may be more accurately disclosed on the lobbyist quarterly disclosure reports. Currently lobbying firms and organization lobbyists must disclose the total amount of all contributions attributable to a reportable individual who has any degree of fundraising responsibility.

For individuals with limited involvement on a host committee, the total amount raised at a particular event may not be reflective of the individual’s limited fundraising efforts. In response, the commission’s staff has prepared three alternative options.

One option would simply allow notation on the report when the individual is not solely responsible for the amount raised. The other two options would amend the lobbying ordinance to remove the dollar amount disclosure requirement for those “assisting a host committee,” or to require reporting of only the amount an individual knows or has reason to know where collected as a result of his or her solicitations.

Discussions on this matter will be held at the commission’s December 13, 2012 meeting at 5:00 p.m. in Room 202 of Council Committee. Feedback may also be sent by email to ethicscommission@sandiego.gov.

Seal of San Diegocourtesy of Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

The Ethics Commission will conduct two interested persons meetings following a report comparing the city’s campaign finance, enforcement, and lobbying laws with the laws of the city of Los Angeles.

Discussion topics include whether or not the city should increase pay-to-play restrictions, prohibit political contributions from lobbyists, and whether to adopt more stringent enforcement policies.

The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 408 of City Hall and for Monday, December 10, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 416 of City Hall.

Feedback may also be sent by email to ethics.commission@sfgov.org.

Voters defeated Proposition 32 and the effort to prohibit corporations and unions from collecting money for state political activities through paycheck deductions. The initiative would have impacted unions the most since corporations rarely deduct money from employee pay for political activities.

If Proposition 32 had passed, unions and corporations would have been prohibited from making donations directly to state candidates. It would not have stopped corporations, individuals, or unions from spending unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns through independent expenditure committees.

City Council has passed the resident-driven Sunshine Ordinance with the intention to make city government more transparent. The ordinance requires builders to hold community meetings in connection with certain developments and calls for online posting of additional information regarding requests for proposals.

Although advocates originally proposed registration requirements for lobbyists, the new law provides only online access to city officials’ scheduled meetings with lobbyists and to information on forms already required to be filed by campaign committees and public officials.

The measure’s effective date will be November 14, 2012, 30 days from Monday’s final vote.

Photo of the Santa Ana City Hall courtesy of Eli Pousson on Wikipedia.

Assembly Bill 481, recently signed by Governor Jerry Brown, is the latest amendment to the Political Reform Act of 1974. The changes are an effort to increase accountability and transparency by requiring faster disclosure of major contributions and independent expenditures occurring shortly before an election.

Definitions for late contributions and late independent expenditures have been expanded to include any aggregated contributions or expenditures of $1,000 or more made within 90 days before the date of the election. Disclosure of these late transactions is required within 24 hours of delivery. The law also requires advertisements to contain a disclosure of the two top contributors of the committee making the independent expenditure.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is currently revising the 2013 filing schedules in preparation of the January 1, 2013 effective date.

The city council’s rules committee has tentatively approved amendments to the city’s campaign finance laws that would increase the contribution limits for citywide offices from $500 to $1,000.

Limits for elections within districts would remain at $500.

If the entire city council approves the amendments, the new contribution limits would be in effect for the 2014 election cycle.

Seal of San Diego courtesy of Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

City Council has approved campaign reform measures for candidates and political committees. The new ordinance raises contribution limits to candidate campaigns from $500 to $700 in council races and from $1,000 to $1,300 in citywide races.

Beginning in 2015, public matching funds will be given for donations raised only within city limits. To be eligible for the city money, candidates will have to collect contributions from at least 200 people living in the district they hope to represent.

Beginning next year, candidates will also be eligible for increased matching funds, including four public dollars for every dollar contributed during the general election and two dollars for every dollar contributed during the primary. Donors will also be able to give to campaigns via text message.

The ordinance is scheduled for a final vote next week.

Photo of Los Angeles by Bobak on Wikipedia.

Governor Brown has ordered a special election resulting from the resignation of Senator Doug LaMalfa.

The special election for the 4th Senate District will be held on January 8, 2013. The special election’s primary will be held on November 6, 2012.

Photo of the California State Capitol by Henri Sivonen on Wikipedia.

The Board of Supervisors has adopted an ordinance limiting campaign contributions for all county elective office candidates, and increasing public disclosure requirements for independent expenditures.

The new ordinance limits contributions to $3,900 per election cycle from a single source, including corporations, special interest groups, and individuals. The ordinance also requires all county candidates and independent expenditure committees to electronically report contributions and expenditures exceeding $10,000.

The ordinance goes into effect January 1, 2013.

Seal of San Bernardino County courtesy of Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Lobbyists and political committees will be paying more for registration when Governor Jerry Brown signs Senate Bill 1001 into law. The bill passed both houses with the two-thirds majority required to amend the state’s Political Reform Act. Political committees would pay $50 to register and lobbyists would pay $100 to register for a biennial session.

The increased revenue will help with maintaining California’s Cal-Access website, which tracks lobbying activity and campaign finance reports. Political committees currently have no registration fee and lobbyists currently pay $50 to register for the biennial session.

The Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved campaign contribution limits to take effect January 1, 2013. The ordinance subjects supervisors and countywide candidates to the same limits as state legislative candidates at $3,900 per election cycle from individuals and $7,800 from small contributor committees.

Contributions or expenditures of $10,000 or more to candidates and independent expenditure committees will now be disclosed electronically. Currently, state law requires disclosure for amounts greater than $50,000 for state and independent committees, but no requirements are in place for local races.

The ordinance goes before the board again Tuesday, August 28, 2012 for adoption.

Seal of San Bernardino County, California by Jetijones on Wikipedia.

California: “Bill would let voters impose greater disclosure requirements on political campaign spending” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Hawaii: “Cashing In: Hawaii’s Top Ten Campaign Donors” by Lindsey Txakeeyang in the Honolulu Civil Beat.

Louisiana: “Lee Zurik Investigation: Politicians owe the state thousands in fines” by Lee Zurik on WVUE Fox 8 News.

Nebraska: “Campaign finance donation removed from state tax return” in the Lincoln Journal Star.

“Romney’s campaign coffers have $60 million more than Obama’s” by T.W. Farnam in the Washington Post.

“Ask Kim Barker Anything About Campaign Finance (a Reddit Chat)” by Amanda Zamora in ProPublica.

Governor Jerry Brown has told legislative leaders he intends to call a special session to deal with issues related to the federal healthcare law signed by President Obama in 2010.

The special session, planned for December, will give the governor and lawmakers an opportunity to keep working on healthcare proposals that have failed in the current session, which ends August 31, 2012.

Bills passed in a special session can take effect within 90 days of passage rather than at the beginning of the following calendar year.

Photo of the California State Capitol by Henri Sivonen in Wikipedia.